Abstract

The Tasmanian north coast, King Island, and Tasmania's easten Bass Strait Islands werequantitatively surveyed to identify locations suitable for the establishment of regional marinereserves in Bass Strait. This survey included a re-assessment and further investigation of RockyCape and the Kent Group, two locations previously proposed as marine reserves. The Kent Groupwas identified as the most outstanding location surveyed, with a range of habitats and biotarepresentative of Bass Strait, and including a significant proportion of Peronian species.Biologically this location would be the preferred location for a marine reserve in the Peronianinfluenced region of Tasmania. Rocky Cape was identified as the most biologically suitablelocation on Tasmania's north coast due to its diverse range of habitats and species abundance. AfterRocky Cape, the next two most desirable locations in the Bass Strait region for marine reserves wereconsidered to be Waterhouse Island in northheast Tasmania and New Year Island off the north westcoast of King Island.